Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux

The estate

The Dutruch family founded the estate in the 1850s, and William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, already lists a Grand-Poujeaux of Dutruch at Moulis in 1853, at 15 to 20 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, follow the holding through the century, at 45 tonneaux in 1893 and 60 in 1898, and in 1922 name it Château Dutruch-Grand-Poujeaux, a cru bourgeois supérieur of J. Dutruch-Lambert, with 31.5 hectares in all and 100 tonneaux. It was a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 1932 and a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 1966 and 1978.

François Cordonnier, an agronomist from a Lille family who had managed wine estates, among them the Château de Chenonceau on the Loire, bought it from the Lambert-Dutruch family in 1967 and took it from 11 to 28 hectares with plots in the village of Grand Poujeaux; his brother Pierre sold the wines in Belgium. In 1993 he handed it to his 4 nephews, who built a new cellar, and in 2016 the eldest, his namesake François Cordonnier, bought out the rest of the family. He runs it from Brussels, with Paul Falipou as director since 2025.

The 31 hectares lie 90% on deep Garonne gravel of the terraces of type 3 and 10% on clay, limestone and sand, planted 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc; the vines are 29 years old on average, some of them over 70. The estate holds Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) and is converting to organic farming. The grapes macerate 17 to 25 days in temperature-controlled concrete and steel vats, and the grand vin (the estate’s first wine) ages 18 months, 12 of them in French oak barrels: 1 third new, 1 third that has held 1 vintage and 1 third that has held 2. Le Petit Dutruch, from the younger vines, is the second wine; Cuvée Collection, the first plot cuvée, dates from 2016, and the Pur range of single varieties from 2022.

At a glance

Appellation

Moulis-en-Médoc

Commune

Moulis-en-Médoc, Grand Poujeaux

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Cordonnier family, since 1967; François Cordonnier, since 2016

Direction

Paul Falipou, since 2025

Vineyard

31 hectares; vines 29 years old on average, some over 70

Ground

90% deep Garonne gravel; 10% clay, limestone and sand

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 51%, Merlot 43%, Petit Verdot 3%, Cabernet Franc 3%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale; converting to organic

Cellar

17 to 25 days in concrete and steel vats; 18 months, 12 in French oak, 1 third new

Wines

Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux; Le Petit Dutruch; Cuvée Collection; the Pur range

In history

The Dutruch holding at Grand-Poujeaux from 1853; Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 1932; Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 1966 and 1978

Sources: Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux, home · Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux, the history of the château · Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux, the Cordonnier family · Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux, the grand vin · Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux, Le Petit Dutruch